In Virginia in 1619 when the House of Burgesses was established the total population of Virginia was 2,400 and 22 men were elected to represent the people. They had one representative for every 109 people living in the colony.
In 1776 the population had grown to 595,034 and the people had 126 representatives or one representative in the state legislature for every 4,722.
,y had In 1787 Virginia had a population of 752,908 and had 126 representatives or one representative in the state's legislature for every 5,975.
Today Virginia has over 8 million people and have one representative in the state legislature for every 80,000.people. If the ratio of representatives to the people had remain unchanged, the people of Virginia would have a total of 13,389 representatives in their states legislature.
In 1790 Virginia had a population of 795,040 and had 10 Congressional representatives, Today there are over 8,000,000 people living in Virginia being represented by 11 Congressmen and women.
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The problems we face is that the people are no longer adequately represented in the House of Representatives. The bankers and Wall Street corporations are calling the shots and we are being enslaved by the financial elite.
Hypothetically, the cost for 13,389 elected Representatives in VA would be $349,452,900.00 at VA's salary of $26,100. A lot of money. VA spent $49.2 Billion in 2016. The numbers do not work in this hypothetical scenario. Something else would have to change.
The numbers could work if the Congressman worked as they did in the colonial era. In the colonial era going to congress was not a full time job with a paycheck and lifetime benefits. You would get elected and only go to the capital when their was important business to be considered such as a possible treaty with a foreign nation for senators or A concern between the states or an allocation of money would be needed for a future event. Everything naturally moved much slower in that day and age. Anyone elected to the House of Representatives was expected to maintain their regular job. Only Senators might stay in DC for any extended period of time.
It goes back to what i say when people say Congress isn't getting anything done, I say that is good. They aren't increasing taxes or creating new laws I have to live under. Back then they did neither of those things.
What would it take, then, to get seomthing similar to happen now? There is no way the elected ones would approve this, much less write it.